Report: Hitchens beaten by pro-Syrian thugs in Beirut? Update: “I was on the ground and getting it in the head”

posted at 4:54 pm on February 18, 2009 by Allahpundit

I can only assume they didn’t recognize him, as the opportunity to scalp one of the world’s foremost atheists surely would have been irresistible.

I dont know if you find this as news worthy or not, but Christopher Hitchens is currently in Beirut sponsored by the same group that owns that crap NOW Lebanon. He got in a few nights ago and surprisingly went out drinking. On his way out of the bar he saw an SSNP poster and wrote on it “Fuck the SSNP”. There just happened to be some SSNP thugs near by–most likely asking people for their ID, and most likely to no avail–and saw him write on the poster and kicked his ass. He is still walking with a limp.

Abu Muqawama says he’s confirmed the story. The SSNP is, of course, a Hezbollah ally that advocates a Syrian anschluss of Lebanon (and Israel, natch). Consider Hitch a minor martyr to the cause of the Cedar Revolution here. Exit question one: More or less unpleasant than being waterboarded? Exit question two: Er, isn’t Ace there with him? Has anyone heard from Ace recently?

Update: Belated exit question three: Is it time for me to organize a mighty atheist army and lead it on a march to Damascus for justice? Yes.

But later that night, three of our “scoop” brigade–Jonathan Foreman, Michael Totten and Christopher Hitchens–got involved in a street brawl with some thugs of a Syria-loving skinhead party called the SNPN after Hitchens rather gallantly insulted their swastika flag. On our way to a meeting with Minister of State Nissib Lahoud, Hitchens showed me the gashed knuckles and bruises suffered during the punch up. The attackers had apparently come out of nowhere on posh Hamda Street, where they had gone to buy shoes. “I was on the ground,” Hitchens said, “and getting it in the head.” It was a miracle they didn’t pull Kalashnikovs.

Note: I changed the headline to reflect that the attackers were pro-Syrian, but not necessarily Syrian in origin.

Speaking for myself, I know that Hitchens is motivated by the same destructive impulses as his fellow liberals who are making life unbearable in the US. I’ve had bumper stickers vandalized, and I would have loved to have kicked the snot out of the person who did it, if I caught him.

Life unbearable in the USA? Really? Wow… I had no idea it got so bad in the 26 days since Obama took office…

To follow your crazy logic one step further, if a LIBERAL defaces a Bush/Cheney bumper sticker it’s the equivalent of a LIBERAL defacing a Nazi poster. Therefore the Bush Cheney ticket are Nazis or Syrian Nazis are Republican.

Worst comparison ever? Yes, a fail but not epic.

It’s very easy to forget for a moment that all parties involved were lowlifes and just savor watching a deserving character get some comeupance after acting on his liberal impulses. It doesn’t happen the US enough.

Again, you’re comparing not apples to apples, or even apples to oranges, but apples to dump trucks.

MadisonConservative on February 19, 2009 at 2:09 AM

I think it’s disingenuous to call it a comparison. It was rather an analogy on one aspect.

If Hitchens had stumbled out of the bar and saw a Christian church instead of the poster, are you telling me he wouldn’t have vandalized the church because he doesn’t have the same degree of contempt for Christianity as he does for some Lebanese political group that he never heard of before?

If Hitchens had stumbled out of the bar and saw a Christian church instead of the poster, are you telling me he wouldn’t have vandalized the church because he doesn’t have the same degree of contempt for Christianity as he does for some Lebanese political group that he never heard of before?

Buddahpundit on February 19, 2009 at 12:14 PM

Churches are everywhere, so I think it’s disingenuous to think he hasn’t stumbled past his share. I’m not aware of any churches he’s vandalized, nor am I aware of a lot of churches with someone standing guard, ready to call a gang of other Christians to come beat the hell out of, or possibly even murder, the vandal.

You mean I bought Ace’s story? Yes, I did. Did I miss the memo where Ace became unreliable?

MadisonConservative on February 19, 2009 at 1:15 PM

Sounds like spin to me, but let’s think about it. I think the claim was “a paid nazi thug” was hired to watch over a poster on an abandoned bagel shop. I don’t buy that and I don’t believe that Ace ( or whoever ) has insight into this group’s payroll.

Sounds like spin to me, but let’s think about it. I think the claim was “a paid nazi thug” was hired to watch over a poster on an abandoned bagel shop. I don’t buy that and I don’t believe that Ace ( or whoever ) has insight into this group’s payroll.

Buddahpundit on February 19, 2009 at 1:52 PM

And it’s also said that any time the posters were taken down, people were threatened or attacked. These same “political activists” regularly killed people. But hey, we know that never happens.

Tell you what, you go to Lebanon, and let me know what you see.

For the moment, I think I’ll take the word of the people who were there. Silly me.